WSLC 2002 Legislative Report

But pay frozen for home care, state workers

Washington’s lawmakers this year faced the task of balancing a budget with a $1.7 billion revenue shortfall caused by recession, the economic impact of Sept. 11, tax exemptions passed in the last eight years, plus initiatives to cut taxes. Perhaps predictably, the people who paid the price were our most vulnerable citizens who are dependent on state services, and the workers who provide those services.

Many state employee jobs were cut; some 1,619 FTEs (although some 670 new Corrections jobs were necessary for prisons). In April, the governor announced that an additional 400 jobs would be cut at state agencies.

State employees who avoided the cuts were denied a 2002 cost-of-living increase, for the first time “delinking” their raises from public school teachers, whose pay increases have been mandated by initiative. At the same time, state workers’ health costs increased, such as a 50% increase in co-pays.

Meanwhile, state-funded home care workers who make $7.68-an-hour and get no health or retirement benefits, also got no raise. A 25-cent increase approved in the final budget that passed the legislature was vetoed by Governor Gary Locke after it became necessary to identify about $32 million in last-minute cuts. That cut was a slap in the face to a group of workers whose public campaign to raise awareness of their important work won them dramatic support and collective bargaining rights from voters last fall. The cut saved the state $4 million, enabling the state to keep $308 million in its reserve fund, rather than $304 million.

It is difficult to describe the negative impact these cuts will have on the working poor, the disabled, vulnerable children and many others who rely on state government. But what is clear is that—despite the best efforts of legislators to stave off more damage with creative solutions like borrowing against future tobacco settlement revenue—the news will very likely be worse in 2003.

2003 outlook bleak; Future quality of life may depend on tax reform

The latest projections estimate the 2003-2004 budget’s revenue shortfall will be $2 billion, some $300 million worse than the 2002 supplemental budget hole. Unless new revenue is generated, the session will be absolutely brutal, once again pitting the needs of state employees and their families, against the needs of the very people they serve.

Unless we address the issue of tax reform, we are destined to lose the battle for the necessary services we need from state government.

The fight ahead is huge. The attacks and efforts to demonize government and public sector workers has been relentless over the past several decades. We cannot underestimate the damage that has been done to the government’s ability to protect working people, the poor, the vulnerable and our environment.

Those forces seeking to deconstruct government’s role (corporate interests and the ideological right) have succeeded to a great extent in cutting off many essential revenue streams by equating government with loss of freedom. They have also succeeded in objectifying and demonizing many of those who provide the essential services who, for the most part, are union workers.

We, in Washington, have what is widely recognized as the most regressive, unfair tax system in the entire United States. It is not surprising that many working people vote for tax initiatives that will have the impact of cutting services to themselves and their families. The sales tax/property tax/B&O tax programs simply do not take into account, in most cases, ability to pay. The unfairness of our present system combined with the anti-government offensive of the Right and the business community has proven to be a terribly destructive formula.

We can and must turn this situation around.

In the short term, we must demand a careful and determined evaluation of the tax exemptions that have been handed out like candy, especially during the economic boom years of the 1990s. We should also consider reasonable sales taxes on certain professional services, and perhaps a tax on employers who fail to provide health care coverage.

In the long term, we must put together a tax reform proposal that meets certain essential criteria:

1. It must be fair (take account of people’s ability to pay).
2. It must provide a stable stream of revenue.
3. It must provide sufficient revenue to meet the needs of Washington’s families.
4. The system must be transparent and with established methods for accountability.
5. It must enhance our ability to create a healthy economy.

While we celebrate our victories of the 2002 session, and mourn our losses, it is critical that we gird ourselves and educate our members to the battles that lie ahead.

For many, the 2002 Legislative Session will be remembered for the state’s budget and transportation challenges. But for state workers, it will be remembered as a historic year for the recognition of fundamental collective bargaining rights.

Four different bills granting these basic rights to various classifications of public employees were passed and signed into law by the governor. (See stories below for more detail on each.)

It was a remarkable achievement given the narrow Democratic majorities in both houses—25-24 in the Senate, 50-48 in the House—and the aggressive opposition of Republican legislative leaders. House and Senate Democrats, with the exception of Sen. Tim Sheldon (D-35), demonstrated a truly inspirational display of unity and solidarity. They defended the bills from Republican attacks in the form of numerous amendments designed to weaken rights or restrict the scope of bargaining, rejecting these efforts with a united vote time and again.

The 2002 experience demonstrated the importance of every vote, and confirmed the absolutely critical necessity of effective union political action. Had the 49-49 House tie not been broken by the 2001 special election, none of these bills would even have gotten a hearing. It was organized labor’s concerted political advocacy (the Labor-Neighbor program outlined in WSLC President Rick Bender’s column below) that many credit for breaking the House tie and the legislative impasse on collective bargaining issues.

But as we are all well aware, party lines don’t determine support for working families’ issues. There are Democrats who oppose labor, and Republicans who support us.

So given that reality, special credit and thanks go to House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder for their disciplined leadership in keeping the collective bargaining bills—and other legislation supported by working families—moving during the short session as opponents sought to delay and derail.

Governor Gary Locke announced March 5 that the Department of Labor and Industries will delay enforcement of the long-awaited, critically important state ergonomics rule by two years. Although the governor expressed support for the rule and threatened to veto any legislative attempt to repeal the rule, his decision was a serious setback for efforts to protect Washington’s workers from debilitating musculoskeletal injuries.

“There is fear in some industries that these new rules might require costly investments in new equipment, ergonomic consultants, and detailed studies,” Locke said. “I believe these fears are unfounded. However, as the national leader it is incumbent upon us to proceed carefully. We must be certain that the Department has had ample opportunity to provide more consultation services to employers.”

But business interests immediately announced they would not use the extra two years to promote education on rule compliance, but instead use that time to try to kill the rule.

“With the decision to delay ergonomics rule enforcement, the state has turned its back on its obligation to protect citizens from unsafe workplaces,” said Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council. “This is a huge victory for the very business organizations that have conducted hysterical campaigns of misinformation about the rule. Their plan to generate uninformed outrage and confusion achieved the delay, and now they have two extra years to try to kill the rule all together.”

Some suggest that the governor’s decision was driven by a desire to forestall legislative action on ergonomics, and avoid a battle that could fracture the Democratic caucuses that hold razor-thin majorities. A handful of Democrats in both houses have previously indicated a willingness to side with Republicans in ergonomics delay or repeal efforts.

Whatever the reason, the delay is bad news for some 100,000 workers who will suffer debilitating, preventable musculoskeletal injuries between now and the time the rule is finally enforced. And it’s bad news for the workers’ compensation fund, which will pay some $800 million in musculoskeletal-related injury claims during that period.

In granting the enforcement delay, the governor ignored the advice of his own Blue Ribbon Panel on Ergonomics, an expert panel sought by and granted to business. After a year of studying the rule, its pilot projects and the state’s efforts to educate employers about compliance, the panel decided unanimously—in a report released the same day the delay was announced—that the rule is clear, understandable and enforceable in a fair and balanced manner.

“The evidence is clear, ergonomics awareness and prevention reduces the number of injuries and lowers workers’ comp premiums for employers,” Bender said. “Labor will continue to defend the ergonomics rule against attacks from business organizations, and we will redouble our efforts to ensure it is fully implemented at the earliest possible date.”

After a 14-year struggle of negotiation, compromise and perennial 11th-hour disappointment, the state legislature in 2002 finally passed the Civil Service Reform Act granting state employees the right to bargain over wages and working conditions.

Until now, state employees could only bargain non-economic conditions and were forced to “beg” legislators for cost-of-living increases and preservation of health care benefits.

But SHB 1268, requested by Governor Gary Locke and prime sponsored by Rep. Sandra Romero (D-22), has changed that. A two-year transition period has begun and bargaining will officially begin in July 2004.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder and every member of their caucus (except Sen. Tim Sheldon) deserve credit for sticking together and fending off a series of Republican floor amendments designed to weaken the bill.

Shortly after the session ended, the Building Industry Association of Washington filed a referendum intended to reverse the legislature’s action and again ban collective bargaining, but the builders’ group ultimately decided to withdraw that attack.

For more information about the Civil Service Reform Act and how it affects represented and unrepresented state employees, visit www.wfse.org.

Another long-sought collective bargaining bill that passed impacted four-year college faculty. For years, this effort has been stymied by disagreement—between legislators and between different university faculty senates—on the specific language of the bill and how the process would work. But this year they worked it out.

The only complication was a late unfriendly amendment from Sen. Dan McDonald (R-48) that said college faculty could have a union or a faculty senate, but not both. This idea makes no sense because these organizations play vastly different roles in influencing the policies and working conditions at the colleges. Nowhere else in the country does such a restriction exist, including at our own state community colleges where unions and faculty senates coexist without a problem.

Unfortunately, every Senate Republican plus Sens. Jim Hargrove (D-24) and Tim Sheldon (D-35) supported the amendment and it passed. Fortunately, the governor vetoed that section from the bill.

Special kudos to the sponsor of HB 2403, Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney (D-46); Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-11), who sponsored the Senate version of the bill; and to Governor Gary Locke for not allowing a cynical amendment to subvert this basic right.

In-home care helps tens of thousands of Washington seniors and people with disabilities stay in their own homes and live with some dignity. Homecare workers bathe, dress, and feed their clients; lift them from beds into wheelchairs; and assist with bowel and bladder care, medication schedules, household management, and other tasks these clients can’t do on their own.

For this critical work, publicly funded homecare workers get $7.68 an hour, and no paid vacation, sick leave, health or retirement benefits. They aren’t even covered by workers’ compensation.

These workers took their case to the voters last fall with Initiative 775, and fully 63 percent said “yes” allowing homecare workers to form unions and bargain collectively. But action was required by the legislature enabling dues deduction for home-care workers who choose to join a union.

So HB 2662, that enabling legislation prime sponsored by Rep. Joe McDermott (D-34), was passed in the House 53-44 and the Senate by a 30-19 vote. Unfortunately for homecare workers, this gesture of good faith dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s” on the I-775 show of public support, was immediately followed by a slap in the face.

Hundreds of homecare workers from all over the state, many of them new members of the Service Employees International Union, came to Olympia in 2002 to rally and share their stories with legislators. They sought a small pay increase, another baby step towards restoring some dignity to the work that allows so many others to live with dignity. The legislature eventually passed a difficult budget that included a 25-cent-an-hour increase, but Governor Locke later vetoed that tiny increase as he sought to plug an unexpected $32 million hole.

Homecare workers can take solace that the outstanding advocacy of the Service Employees International Union has raised public and legislative awareness about their desperate circumstances. Unfortunately, respect and empathy doesn’t pay the rent or buy any groceries.

Last year, the University of Washington administration and the union representing its teaching and research assistants, the Graduate Student Employee Action Council/UAW, agreed on legislation enabling the collective bargaining process to proceed. But Republican leaders in the tied House refused to allow a vote on the issue.

In this report last year, we argued that a “clear majority” would vote for the bill if given the chance. This year, with the tie broken, the clear majority got their chance and passed it.

Prime sponsored by Rep. Steve Conway (D-29) and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, the measure provides a framework for GSEAC/UAW and the UW to bargain over wages, benefits, hours and working conditions. The union wasted no time and filed for certification with the Public Employment Relations Commission immediately after the governor signed the new law.

Since the winter of 2000, 75-80% of UW academic student employees have signed union cards, choosing GSEAC/UAW as their union. There are approximately 3,700 ASEs who typically work between 5-10 years as teaching, research or staff assistants.

Pharmaceutical firms and their lobbying organizations have gained something of a reputation nationally for their dirty and deceptive campaigns to prevent state government from passing laws to address the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs.

This year, they again brought their show to Washington and succeeded in killing SB 6368, an effort to allow the state, and eventually all of us, to inject free-market competition into prescription drug purchasing. It would have allowed the state to consolidate purchasing, buy drugs in bulk, and potentially save millions at a time when our budget could use the money. SB 6368 was supported by doctors, pharmacists, labor, and advocates for the elderly, patients and consumers.

Drug companies bought full-page newspaper ads using front groups with phony names like International Patient Advocacy Association and The Seniors Coalition. The ads were clearly intended to mislead and incite opposition. Meanwhile, heavy-hitter drug lobbyists flown in from around the country joined many local contract lobbyists at the Capitol during the last days of the session.

“This is as ugly a fight as I’ve seen,” said Nick Federici, lobbyist for the AARP, which supported the bill.

SB 6368, sponsored by Sen. Pat Thibaudeau (D-43), passed the Senate 27-20 but became mired in the drug company muck in the House. Despite a strong push led by Rep. Eileen Cody (D-11), a number of Democrats under heavy pressure from biotech firms in their districts refused to support it.

The federal government, HMOs, insurance companies, large corporations and a growing number of other state governments are already able to negotiate lower drug prices, but not Washington consumers. In fact, some of the very biotech companies in Olympia opposing SB 6368 use the very same approach to save money on drug costs for their own employees!

The WSLC and the same strong coalition of other supporters will again push for this legislation in 2003.

In 2002, the cause of “business competitiveness” was invoked daily in Olympia’s halls and hearings.

Unfortunately, too often it was invoked on perennial right-wing anti-worker priorities like so-called “regulatory reform,” rather than the one thing business executives from across the state said they needed most: investment in transportation.

After weeks of debate and negotiation on what to do, ultimately, there were not enough votes in the House of Representatives to raise the state gas tax to fund highway maintenance and construction. For all their advocacy on behalf of business interests, Republicans could only muster a handful of votes for the measure. Although the vast majority of Democrats were prepared to take the tough “yes” vote, there were several who were convinced that it belonged on the ballot.

Fearful of either a voter backlash or threatened referendum to repeal by Tim Eyman & Co., these lawmakers ignored the pleas from the governor, and business and labor leaders to act. Instead, they have passed the buck to voters in the form of Referendum 51, which would increase the gas tax by 9 cents over the next two years plus impose some additional vehicle sales taxes and truck weight fees.

The idea is to have highway and road users pay for the improvements. Every penny raised from gas taxes, by law, must be spent on transportation. None of it will go to the General Fund or be spent for any other purpose.

Plus, it will be spent more efficiently than ever before. While they didn’t act to fund transportation, the legislature did pass a series of transportation efficiency measures that allows some contracting out of Department of Transportation work (above and beyond the work done by existing DOT engineers) and addresses the accuracy of prevailing wage standards in rural parts of the state. These measures compliment those passed last year: the permit-streamlining and design-build measures that will get roads built and maintained much faster.

The gas tax has been frozen for more than 10 years. It has lost value to inflation as population has exploded and brought traffic to a standstill, especially around the Puget Sound region, our state’s economic engine.

Now, as Boeing and other major employers decide where they want to conduct and expand business in future years, freight and human mobility has become the top issue.

We have run out of time for debate; we must act. The future of our jobs, and the prospects for our children to get decent ones, will rest on the outcome of the Ref. 51 vote. If it fails, the skittish legislature is likely to put off the issue for years.

The WSLC and the rest of organized labor must do everything in our power to ensure its passage. As Sen. Patty Murray told the WSLC Legislative Conference, “This is a fight we cannot afford to lose.”

There are many more stories included in the print version of the WSLC's 2002 Legislative Report on issues like voluntary payroll deductions into union PACs, mandatory overtime for nurses, family care, unemployment insurance for domestic violence victims, and much, much more. Email us and request a free copy.